Interviewer instructions
Section 10 - Income
5.82 Meaning of Income
What is required here is income from employment for persons who worked or had a job during the week preceding the Census, that is, for all individuals included at Question 27 except those, marked "Did Not Work". The question relates to income from employment only and excludes gifts, rents from property, interest and dividends, pensions and any other income other than income obtained directly from employment.
It is intended to include all income from employment, that is, income from different jobs where a person has had more than one job at
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the same time. Add together the income from the different jobs. In special cases, even a person classified in Question 27 as an "Unpaid Worker" may have an income, for the classification in Question 27 relates to his principal activity only.
In general there are two types of income to be dealt with depending on whether the person worked for others or for himself. Persons who worked for others for pay, i.e. for wages and salaries, should give their gross income, including any overtime payments, commission, bonuses, etc. Income should include any deductions which are generally made such as Income Tax, National Insurance, National Housing Trust, Health Schemes, and any other. That is, it should be income before deductions.
For self-employed persons (employers and own account workers) on the other hand, what is required is their net receipts, that is, their total gross receipts less any wages and salaries they have to pay people working in the business, and other business expenses. It is appreciated that persons in these categories will not often be able to give their net income with absolute accuracy, but you must make every effort to help them to give as accurate a figure as possible.
In particular, many self-employed persons and some wage and salary earners might not be able to give a reasonable income figure for a short period, such as a week or a month. For example, a cane farmer reaps his cane once per year may have to give his net income for the past year, for if he gives his income for a week or month, and the period excludes the time when he received this payment, the average income will be understated. On the other hand if it includes this payment, the average income will be over-stated. Similarly, a wage earner who regularly receives an annual bonus would need either to give all his income for the year or else add a proportional part of his annual bonus to his monthly or weekly income.
There will, therefore, be some difficulty in ensuring that you obtain the accurate income for persons who receive income for different periods or from different sources.
Remember that many people do not like to tell others how much money they earn; often they do not tell this even to their own family or friends. You must therefore be tactful if you are to get the questions answered correctly and willingly.
5.83 Question 46 - Total Income
Question 46 is in two parts, and both parts must be answered. Pay-period at Question 46a indicates what length of time the amount of money scored at Question 46b refers to.
5.84 Question 46a - Pay-period
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First decide what is the most convenient pay-period in which to record this person's income and mark this at Question 46a. The most convenient pay-period for you to use would usually be the one in which the person receives most of his income. For example, in the case of the wage-earner who is paid weekly and gets no other income, then the pay-period used should be the week. Similarly, the month would be the most convenient pay-period for the person who receives only a monthly income. Record this answer as you obtain it.
5.85 Question 46b - Amount
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Having determined what the pay-period should be, ensure that you get the total income for that pay-period by adding together income from different sources and for different pay-periods. Enter the total in the usual way. Use Appendix V if you need to convert from one period to another.
